The Cleveland Indians called up their top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer to start against the Chicago White Sox on Friday , but got just two outs from the 22-year-old righty as the White Sox battered him for five runs on six hits, including two home runs.
Trevor Bauer recalled by Indians, shelled in return
The Cleveland Indians recalled top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer to face the White Sox Friday and his return to the big leagues did not go as planned.
David Banks
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Prior to the 2013 season, Bauer was ranked the 14th best prospect in the game by Baseball America and 17th best prospect by MLB.com. He has yet to translate that promise into big league success, however. In 2012, as a member of the Diamondbacks, Bauer made four starts, going 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA in 14 1/3 innings. That initial failure combined with make up questions and a run in with catcher Migeul Montero to help convince the Diamondbacks to shop Bauer. He was traded to Cleveland over the off-season as a part of the deal that sent Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds and Didi Gergorius to the Diamondbacks and also brought Drew Stubbs to the Indians.
Since joining Cleveland, Bauer had started to make some progress at the major league level prior to this disastrous start. Before taking the mound against Chicago, he has started three games and posted a 2.76 ERA over 16 1/3 innings. Efficiency had been an issue in those starts; Bauer had topped hundred pitches twice and topped out at 6 1/3 innings, but he had managed to be effective. On Friday, he was both ineffective and inefficient, throwing 46 pitches in less than an inning on the mound. All told, he allowed a walk, two singles, two doubles and gave up home runs to Adam Dunn and Jeff Keppinger while getting just two outs, one of which was a sacrifice fly from Alex Rios.
Following this performance, the team reports that Bauer has been optioned back to Triple-A to make room for right-handed reliever Matt Langwell.
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